


Rough Days

by RMHBRP



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Pet Names, Sorry Not Sorry, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-19 04:18:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14866466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RMHBRP/pseuds/RMHBRP
Summary: Everyone has bad days sometimes, but everyone deals with it differently.





	1. Jay

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of Taytayloulou's Grin and Bear it AU. If you want to understand everything in this fic, I highly suggest you read their amazing work. Basically what you need to know is that the hero's from the VKs parents' stories (Snow White, Aurora, Jasmine, etc.) meet them.

It had been a few weeks after the night of the party. Relations between the adults and the VKs had improved dramatically, even leading to meetings between the two groups to discuss bringing over more Isle children, and the teenagers moods were surprisingly high. But even that doesn't stop bad days from coming around.

Jay had been thinking. And that was never a good thing for him. He was usually playing up his confidence as the fun-loving playboy, the eccentric flirting thief, and he enjoyed living that life, but today he just wasn't feeling it. He had been doing fine before, until he began remembering his life back at the Isle, his life with Jafar. And every time he did, his eyes trailed down to his arms, covered in ugly scars and horrible reminders of the life he used to live.

In other words, Jay was having a pretty shitty day.

It was currently the early morning, way before his fellow VKs were awake. Looking behind him, he saw Carlos with his head in Mal's lap, with Evie snuggled up against the two. He was originally part of that pile, but he snuck out once he decided that sleep had abandoned him. He checked the time. 5:37 AM. He was incredibly bored. Staring at the clock for another painful three minutes, Jay got up with a sigh and decided to walk down to the castle. The next meeting was today and Ben was there anyways. The cafeteria would be open for a quick snack. So he wrote his friends a note explaining where he was, texted Ben ahead of time, and walked the several miles down to the castle.

Luckily, the weather decided to warm up a little, so he didn't have to wear a bulky jacket. He never liked them, because it was hard for him to feel discreet and safe in such a big article of clothing, which made him uncomfortable. Almost an hour later, Jay finally reached the castle. Breathing a sigh of relief, he trudged the last few yards down to his destination.

In front of the massive building, he slowly opened the door, knowing they would be unlocked, having texted Ben about his early arrival. As promised, Ben was there to meet him, looking tired but happy nonetheless.

“What's up man?” Breathed Jay, still warming up from the harsh outside weather.

“Other than you showing up, not much, really.” Ben shrugged

“Oh. Cool. Sorry about the unannounced arrival, by the way. I know it's early.” Jay looked a bit sheepish at that, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It's fine. I had nothing else to do, and I had to be up to prepare for the meeting anyway. Care to give a helping hand?” Asked Ben, gesturing to the door that led to the cafeteria.

“Sure.”

With that, the two made their way to the cafeteria, which even at the earliest hours was alive with the night, chefs rushing in and out, too and fro, to prepare only the best cuisine for the king and his guests. Jay watched, with more than a little curiosity, the busy rhythm of the orderly chaos in the kitchen. Ben chuckled a little at his expression, having seen it on his own face several times. It was time to get started.

“Most of what I do here is just making sure everything is running smoothly, but I like to help where I can. Like setting the table.” Ben said grabbing silverware, napkins, and plates ready to place.

Jay laughed a bit at that, even if he didn't feel like it. “How kingly.” He said, following Ben's lead and setting up the table. It was a nice distraction from his nagging problems.

Table set, the boys admired their work before sitting down to relax.

Ben had to ask. “ So what brought you here so early?” Jay's head snapped up a little, not expecting the question, but kept a straight face nonetheless.

“Nothing much, couldn't sleep is all.” It wasn't a lie, he never lied, but Jay wanted to avoid the question as much as possible, no matter how tired he was, not one to talk about his problems, considering the other's problems of higher worth. He was aware of his tendencies to put his friends and only his friends before himself, something that was vastly foreign to him in the Isle, but he couldn't care less at the moment. His problems didn't really matter anyways. He wasn't sad, just a bit angry, that's all, who cared, his friends had it way worse back at the Isle. He was a con-man, an expert of deception, and he had gotten so good at tricking others, that tricking himself was child's play. The only ones that might tell something was wrong with him was obviously his best friends, but other than that, he was safe.

He spent the rest of the morning chatting with Ben about random topics, how Ben was enjoying being king, Mal’s recent hair color change, Carlos’ new jacket, Evie’s clothing line. Things like that. Before the boys knew it, it was already time for the meeting. Surprisingly, Mal, Evie, and Carlos had shown up before the adults, looking for Jay apparently. They sat down next to him, and if they noticed anything was wrong, they didn't show it.

He missed the look Mal gave him from behind.

Minutes later, the adults began to file in, surprised that teens had gotten there before them. As usual, Aurora and Phillip sat down in front of Mal, Snow White sat before Evie, Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie, in Aladdin's turban, sat in front of Jay, leaving Anita and Roger Radcliffe with Carlos, who had Dude next to him eating his new favorite brand of dog food, gifted to him by the Radcliffe's. Ben, being king, sat at the head of the table.

It was time for the meeting to begin.

Per protocol, they were to eat before discussing the Isle. No good decisions could be made over an empty stomach, after all. There was already food there, including the classics of pancakes, strawberries for Mal, french toast, and eggs on the table. Everyone began to dig in, filling their plates. The adults grabbed mostly pancakes and eggs, while the teens had more eclectic tastes. Evie indulged in the french toast, delicately dusting it with powdered sugar, along with some blueberries mixed in with the strawberries. Carlos grabbed a few pancakes, and some of Mal's strawberries, after asking of course. Mal, obviously, took basically the whole bowl of strawberries, adding generous amounts of powdered sugar on top, and that just left Jay. He would normally be piling his plate with incredible amounts of food (he was a growing boy after all!), but today, well… he lost his appetite a bit, only grabbing a single pancake. He immediately noticed his out of character mistake after each and every person in the room, yes, even the adults, turned to look at him, giving him both concerned and irrediculous looks.

He may have been panicking a little, just a bit, nothing to worry about though.

He decided to try and ignore the weight of the stares he was receiving by nibbling at the pancake in front of him. That probably made it worse. Most people would believe that he loved to be the center of attention, to be the, ‘Belle of the ball’ as they would say, but most people would be wrong. After hiding in the shadows, sneaking around, and generally being alone all his life, he found people paying attention to him strangely uncomfortable. He had gotten better since coming to Auradon, but it was still a habit that was hard to break. He was having a difficult time resisting the urge to sneak off somewhere to be alone. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he actually jumped when Evie touched his arm, giving him a very worried look.

Oops.

He turned, rather reluctantly, to face Evie, not looking at her, finding the small syrup stain on the tablecloth far more interesting. Since when had that been there? Okay, maybe he was avoiding eye contact, but who could blame him? He was being put in a very inconvenient and uncomfortable situation, thank you very much.

“Jay?” Evie pitched her voice to a whisper, making sure that the adults couldn't hear them. Jay really appreciated that.

“...yeah, princess?” Jay still refused to look at her face.

“Hey, look at me.” Evie coaxed gently. Jay finally looked up. Evie was alarmed to find his eyes looking angry and a bit sad. “What's the matter?”

“People.” Jay responded in a slightly strangled tone, looking around. Evie immediately got the hint, people still staring at the pair. He would talk in private.

Evie spoke up.

“Ben, would you mind if the two of us took a quick walk? We won't be long.” Asked Evie. Ben nodded, eyes flickering to Jay's still form.

“Thanks!” Evie said cheerfully, though the smile didn't reach her eyes. Carlos and Mal knew to give them some space, while the adults, specifically the group from Agrabah, continued their concerned stare. Evie grabbed Jay's hand before he could protest, and before he knew it, he was dragged outside of the castle.

Just outside the cafeteria

Evie had dragged them directly outside of the cafeteria doors, where no one was around, the other students still on break. She got right down to business and asked the one question Jay may or may not have been dreading all day.

“What's wrong, Jay bird?” Evie gave him a concerned pout, knowing it was his weakness. He didn't want to worry her though, and he wasn't keen on throwing himself a pity party. But he also wouldn't lie to her.

“Noth-” Jay was cut off.

“Don't you tell me that ‘nothing much’ is wrong Jay. I know that look anywhere. Tell me what's wrong.” Jay had an internal struggle on what to say, but eventually under Evie's hard stare, he relented, stubborn resolve crumbling.

He sighed. “I've been thinking.” He said, knowing Evie would get it. She frowned, and he immediately regretted saying anything, not one to be comforted, he'd much rather comfort others, and making Evie frown was basically the opposite of comforting. She stared at him for a long time, before whipping out her phone.

“What're you doing with that?” Evie didn't reply right away, tapping rapidly at the keys. Finally she paused.

“Texting Mal that we'll be awhile before going back to the meeting.” It's was agreed that they would always keep their phones on them, in case of an emergency. Looks like that was coming in handy. Evie continued tapping before stopping and watching the screen, most likely waiting for Mal's reply.

“Wait, why are we going to be awhile?” Evie looked at Jay before grinning, replying with an almost smug:

“Oh Jay, you should know this by now. I'm not sending you back upset, so…” She trailed off, waiting for Jay to make the connection.

Oh.  
Ohhh.

So that's what she's going to do. He was a lot less against this now. So he didn't resist when Evie once again grabbed his hand and brought him to a bench just outside of the castle. It was time for a long held tradition of theirs that started after the two of them had a horribly stressful day.

Evie had just reapplied her makeup for around the 15th time already, deeming the first 14 styles not good enough. Jay was on the bed, fidgeting with his hair and tapping his feet together for the millionth time, restless and hyper-aware. Today had been one of their worst days, leaving Mal and Carlos in the infirmary for a week, and guilt was eating them up whole. Eventually Evie just gave up, flopping on to the bed next to Jay, with a heavy sigh. She kept fidgeting, finger itching to fix something up, since she couldn't be fixed. Jay took notice, turning to her.

“You alright, princess?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Jay bird.” Then she sighed before adding, “I just need something to fix up. My make-ups always a mess, so that won't work, and my hair doesn't style right. I don't know what to do, Jay.” She looked sad. Jay couldn't allow that. So, he did the most logical thing.

“You can... fix my hair if you want.” He looked almost embarrassed, but protecting his friends was too important to him.

“W-What?” Evie looked confused.

“I mean, only if you want to. I just thought, if you don't want to fix yourself up, which you don't need to do by the way, I wouldn't really mind a new hairstyle or something. It's kinda nice I guess?” That kind of came out weird, but the way Evie smiled up at him made it all worth it.

It ended up sticking after that, so whenever one of them was upset or stressed, Evie would style Jay's hair, and it made the both of them feel better.

Today she decided to give him braids. Jay was okay with that. Evie was sitting on the bench, with Jay on the ground in front of her, despite her protests. Jay was just tall enough to make their position comfortable, and was very content to relax while she worked with his hair, combing it with the hairbrush she always kept with her, and beginning to gently braid it into a bun. [Here's what it looks like :) https://goo.gl/images/DrGnpf ]

It didn't take too long, maybe 20 minutes, but that was all Jay needed to lift his mood, and he was actually ready to go to the meeting now.

“You ready to head back Jay bird? Wouldn't want to keep everyone waiting, now would we?” Jay smiled a little at that, before replying with:

“Of course, princess.” And they began to head back.

Inside the cafeteria

All heads turned when the cafeteria doors opened, revealing the two most talked about guests. Jay appeared to be in a far better mood, and was now sporting a decorative bun on his head (that Jasmine wholly approved of, and Aladdin did a double take at) and Evie looked quite proud of herself. The two walked in, returning to their seats. Content to ignore the continued stares and quiet whispers, the two talked to Mal and Carlos about what they missed.

“Wow Jay, I like the bun.” Said Mal, nodding toward his new decorative style.

“Yeah. Evie did a great job.” Evie flushed a bit with pride at that. “So, what did we miss?”

“Not much, mostly just eating and everyone else being worried and shit.” Spoke Mal eloquently, ignoring Aurora's small 'language!’.

“Oh. So we're ready to begin?” Asked Evie, looking around, receiving nods in response. So, they began the meeting.

One hour after the meeting

The four VKs sighed in relief once they saw their dorms over the horizon, everyone tired and just ready to rest. They had decided to all room together, taking into account Jay's previously sour mood. Once inside, Mal flopped down on the bed with Carlos, the two content to sit there in silence, while Jay and Evie utilized the bathroom, Jay changing into more comfortable clothes, and Evie removing some of her make-up, not too much though, she still had to look pretty.

When the two got out, they joined Mal and Carlos on the bed, sitting in a comfortable silence, Jay still in his bun.

“So pup, how’ve you been doin’ with your science-y things?” Jay asked, looking over to Carlos.

“Good, actually, I managed to convince Chad to help me out with some of the heavy lifting.” Carlos beamed at that. This had been a project he was excited about for months, and it was finally happening. Jay was pretty sure that he had never seen Carlos that happy in a while.

“That's awesome C!” Evie reached over to ruffle his hair, Carlos trying to get away while giggling. The four of them ended up spending the rest of the day pillow fighting, laughing, and having fun until it was finally time for rest and they had tired themselves out. Jay made it to the bed first, snatching up his own pillow despite Mal's protests. They compromised and Mal shared a pillow with Jay, Carlos laying on Jay, and Evie with Mal. They fell asleep peacefully, a small smile on their faces.

This was a pretty good day.


	2. Mal

Mal fucking  _ hated  _ Maleficent.

 

She hated her evil schemes, her expectations, the stick up her ass,  _ everything _ .

 

The only thing Maleficent has ever done is cause fear. And Mal hated fear. She hates how it makes her friends feel, how it made her feel. Seeing the look on their faces, the panic, shaking hands, the tears. She hated the tears the most. Yet here she was, tears streaming down her face, hands trembling, and sheer panic coursing through her. She bitterly thought about how she got here.

 

_ Mal walked through the school halls to class, all too aware of the eyes that followed her wherever she went. There were always eyes on her, her friend’s, her teacher’s, her classmate’s, _

 

_ Her mother's. _

 

_ She paused her thoughts before she went too deep down the metaphorical rabbit hole. Opening the door to her next class, a.k.a, boring 101, she took a seat near Evie and the boys and got out a leatherback notebook. The rest of the students filed in, being sure to leave at least a one desk gap between them and the VK’s, lest they got their heads bitten off or something. _

 

_ The class went smoothly enough, with the added sarcastic comments from Jay (Ever the treat), and tutoring help from Evie (Even more a treat). Soon enough the bell rang, summoning the ranks of teens to march out to their next activities for the day. Today though, Mal had the day off for the hour, courtesy of Ben, and she was keen to use that time for some well deserved relaxation. _

 

_ She made her way over to her favorite spot by the pond, before the chattering of some girls stopped her. _

 

_ “Look who it is!” sneered the first girl, glancing towards Mal. _

 

_ “Oh, it’s that evil whore, huh,” the other girl replied, unaware of Mal being able to hear them perfectly well. _

 

_ “Yeah, that’s Maleficent's kid. How gross!” Mal growled minutely, she was 0.2 seconds away from hexing their sorry asses to hell and- _

 

_ “She’s just like her mother!” Mal froze. _

 

_ “Absolutely rotten and awful!” A strange sensation was welling up in her chest, and she found it increasingly hard to swallow. She shouldn’t care what these bitches are saying! Why did she care? Her breathing was uneven as she quickly walked away from the insults. Why was the world all spotty? _

And that brings us to now. Mal had collapsed by a tree, shoulders shaking with sobs, uncontrollable and unexplainable panic racing through her. She hated this. She hated herself for crying. Just like everyone hated her. No one cared who she was, she was just her mother. She puts on a brave face, but somehow she still ends up being the coward of the group, running away from who she was. She hated Maleficent. Mal hated  _ herself _ .

 

She sobbed harder, hearing the laughter and mocking tones of the girls. She was completely absorbed in her world of self loathing, not even hearing the footsteps behind her.

 

“M?” called out a small voice that sounded surprised. Mal jumped, whirling around to face the figure behind her.

 

“C-Carlos?” She winced at the sound of her raspy voice. The crying really did a number on her, huh?

 

“Yeah M, it’s me,” he soothed, “What’s wrong?”He gently rubbed her back from where he sat next to her.

 

“It’s nothing,”  She tried, not really wanting to show how  _ weak _ she was, ending up a sobbing mess from just a few insults! She felt pathetic.

 

“It certainly doesn’t seem like nothing. C’mon Mal, I promise I won’t judge. Ever,” He looked at her directly while she averted her eyes. Logically, Mal knew she could tell him. But she couldn’t help but feel scared. And by god did she hate that word. Fuck it. She spoke up.

 

“I’m so  _ weak _ ” She admitted, not noticing Carlos’ shocked stare at her words. She continued,

 

“I mean,  _ look at me _ pup, I’m crying just ‘cause some asshole said shit. I’m  _ always _ doing this. I know I put on a confident face, but I’m just-” Carlos cut her off with a tight hug.

 

“Who do I have to beat up?” He asked softly, earning a huff of laughter from Mal. He grinned at her before sobering up and saying:

 

“Mal, listen to me. You are the exact  _ opposite _ of weak. You’re one of the strongest people I know. You’re so brave all the time. It’s okay to have emotions, that’s what makes you human, and a good person. You’re an excellent leader M, I’d follow you anywhere. We all would.” His eyes softened when he noticed Mal crying harder from his words. She leaned into him, saying small, hiccupped, Thank you’s and I’m sorry’s. He gently shushed her, holding onto her.

 

They stayed like that for hours, falling asleep in each others arms.

 

Perhaps being weak wasn’t so bad after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi so I'm back. No idea when the net chapter will happen. But I will get it out eventually.
> 
> Luv, RMH~

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my newest story! This is a 4-part series for each VK of course, and I decided to start with Jay! If you like this work and you're into Voltron Legendary Defenders, check out some of my other works!
> 
> My Tumblr is RMHBRP, and you can request almost any prompt you want there, so check it out! I also accept questions.
> 
> See you next chapter!
> 
> Luv, RMH~


End file.
